Lift Me Up
by Ryu Forte
Summary: On a routine mission, Buzz runs into a notorious bounty hunter and his life is changed forever. BuzzxJessie. Slow build. Bad summery. Toy Story/BLoSC/Pixar/Disney-verse.
1. Fly From the Inside

Hey there! Is it too late for me to hop on this bandwagon? This was supposed to be a one-shot, but then a story just developed and I couldn't help myself. I'd also like to thank all the wonderful writers on here that have inspired me to wire again. Thank you! So without further ado, please enjoy!

* * *

><p><em>Prologue<em>

It was supposed to be a routine check in with the dignitaries of a newly enacted planet to the Galactic Alliance. _Supposed to_, being the operative phrase. _But_, Buzz thought sourly, _when has it_ ever _been routine for his team_. It always seems like they've only been on a planet for barely half an hour when _something_ happens. And it's always something isn't it! In this case, it so happened that the talk with the dignitaries went smoothly. It should have alerted the space rangers, since nothing in their lives ever seems to go smoothly.

The team had just finished talking with the appointed leadership when the security in the Grand Hall of the capital building received a distress call. A bandit in the city had just hit one of the local banks, stealing as many units and valuables as he possible could. If that wasn't bad enough he had a hostage with him, leaving many more injured, in the progress of the robbery. From what Buzz could understand from the guard (and his Atherian wasn't that much up to snuff) it wasn't pretty. Whoever this bandit was, he didn't care about who he hurt in the process of getting what he wanted…especially since he still had a hostage with him.

Buzz had assured the Atherian high council that he and his team would take care of this bandit and bring him to justice. The captain had then broken up his team to best assess the damages. Mira and X-R would go to the bank to see if they could help stop the robber, and if they did, help with the injured. Booster and himself would get more information from the council and the guards to get a better handle on the situation, relaying important facts that the other part of the team should know; they would then meet up with Mira and X-R. Buzz assured that Mira and X-R were capable of taking down the criminal…even if that meant using deadly force. Buzz hoped it didn't come to that, it was still a delicate situation given there was a hostage involved.

Buzz turned his attention towards the council, questioning about the robbery. "Has this ever happened before?"

Moldurr, the most senior of the council shook his head sadly. "This is not a common occurrence on Ather. We as a people are peaceful, and violence is a very rare thing indeed." Buzz furrowed his eyebrows in thought at this information, but Booster alerted him to one of the other Atherians.

A younger member of the council shuffled nervously back and forth before speaking up. "Actually, Elder, this isn't the first of this sort to happen…"

"What!?" The Elder whipped around to glare at the lower ranking member.

The younger councilman sighed, his…shoulders? slumping as in defeat. "There have been a few of these robberies in the past few weeks. This is just the first to have happened so close to the capital." The Atherian tapped the end of it's long claws together with worry. "Because the complaints came from the outer isles, I didn't think it pertinent to inform you, Elder."

"Of course it's pertinent, Selk!" The Elder threw his hands in the air, "Even if it is the outer isles, I need to know when our people are dissatisfied!" The Elder sighed and rubbed at his temples, attempting to reign in his anger before turning to the rangers. "If it is not too much trouble for you, if you wouldn't mind investigating? I would be much relieved if this cretin was under the lock and key of your Star Command."

"Of course, sir." Buzz saluted, "We'll find your thief and bring him to justice." He motioned to Booster and the two of them headed off, following their wrist communicators to locate the scene of the crime. Mira and X-R were busy helping to direct pedestrians as well as working with the medical teams to help all of the injured as quickly as possible. The area was worse that Buzz had earlier expected. The bank was practically non existent from being blown apart, and it was obvious to him the explosion was the main cause of all the injuries.

There also wasn't a fire fight happening, so the thief had either escaped his rangers, or was long gone before they even got there. Buzz sent Booster off to go help with digging through the wreckage looking for survivors, while he located Mira and X-R. "Rangers, report."

"Well, um, as you can probably see, the thief set off a large explosion to create mayhem while he snuck in and robbed the bank." Mira saluted Buzz, going over what she had learned. "No one got a good look at the robber, he had a mask, goggles, and a hat on, so we have no idea who or what he is. And from preliminary examination of the inside of the bank, made off with at least a million units of stolen items."

_A million units_! They needed to find this guy and fast. "What about the hostage?" Buzz needed to know in order to better asses the situation.

"No, no, well, you see, sir…" Mira stumbled.

"There was never any hostage to begin with!" X-R exclaimed, making grand gestures with his hands, "The 'hostage' – " the robot used air quotes, "was actually part of the job! Meant to distract and prevent the local enforcement from shooting the both of them!"

Buzz sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Great. Just _great_. If it wasn't bad enough that there was a robber on the loose, now they had _two_ robbers on the loose. He could just feel the migraine coming on. "Alright, we'll finish up here and then track them…they couldn't have gotten too far."

"Um, Buzz? There's, ah, there's something else." Mira meekly interjected.

"And what would that be?" Of course it got worse. Never got easier for them _did it_.

"According to onlookers, there was another person here at the bank. But they didn't seem like they were in on it with the robbers."

"Nope! Said that this other party was actually trying to _stop_ the robbers!" X-R pulled out a notepad and flipped through the pages. "Got into quite the tussle with one of them, involving an impressive knuckle brawl. The locals also mentioned that this mysterious law-helper took off after the two criminals."

"So we aren't just looking for two criminals, we're looking for someone else as well? Am I to assume that we have no idea what this person looks like?" Buzz asked, checking for possible escape routs out of the city.

"Not a clue. Most of the witnesses were too busy looking at the supposed kidnapper to pay attention to some lonesome crime fighter. The best description that we have is this guy was wearing a large red hat." The female ranger shrugged.

"Alright, looks like things are just about wrapped up here." Buzz's wrist computer beeped to alert him of the most obvious escape rout of the city. After checking it several times to get the coordinates right and set up, he closed it. "Go grab Booster, we're heading out. The locals have everything covered here, looks like."

When everyone was gathered up again, the rangers took to the skies to get out of the city. At the city limits, Buzz informed his team that it would be tactically smarter to stay low to the ground. By doing so, they wouldn't look conspicuous in the air, plus the robbers wouldn't be expecting them to come from ground level.

After clearing the city, the scenery changed dramatically. The towers, apartment buildings, and businesses dropped away to a severe landscape. The ground was dry and cracked, with a small scraggly shrub here and there. For the most part, though, there was nothing but desert stretched out in front of them. Why anyone would try and escape this way was beyond Buzz. There was nothing out here but desert that seemed to go on forever, with a tower of rock jutting from the ground every now and then.

"Buzz, how do you know we're going the right way?" Booster asked, holding a hand out in front of his eyes to try and shield them from the unforgiving sun.

"Well, I calculated the most useable route to start off with…and just a few minutes ago, I picked up a vapor trail from a ground runner." He opened his wrist computer and keyed in a few commands. "And it looks like the trail isn't that old. We should be catching up with the robbers shortly."

It was only a handful of minutes later that Mira gasped and pointed at the ground. "Look, tracks!" They didn't bother to stop to analyze the tracks, knowing that they were getting close to capturing the robbers. But something felt off to Buzz. The tracks looked odd to have come from a ground runner…but at the same time, he didn't know what they looked like on this planet. There was more than one way to make a transport craft after all.

"Hey Buzz, I'm picking up a life form reading! Make that two life forms!" The robot ranger pointed off in the direction they had been traveling in.

"Alright rangers, we don't know what to expect form these guys, so set your lasers to stun rather than kill. It's possible that they aren't looking for a fight from space rangers." Buzz changed his as he spoke, making sure his team did the same.

"I calculate that as being a very, very , _very_ low percentage…" X-R grumbled as he internally made his weapons stun only.

"Think of it this way, X-R. Even if we have to change them over again, it's not that hard and it doesn't take that long." Mira spoke hopefully.

"Doesn't take that long to get shot and killed either…" the robot grumbled.

"That's enough, be alert and keep an eye out for the robbers." The authority in his voice spoke no complaint or argument from his team. They may still be rookies, but they at least knew when to follow orders…mostly. His team was good, but they sometimes got carried away because of their inexperience.

If Buzz could have seen the future, it would have been one of said situations.

"Buzz, I see him! Dead ahead!" Booster pointed out, a figure just up ahead and they were catching up quickly now.

"Good job ranger! Now we'll just-"

Buzz didn't get a chance to finish his sentence before Booster and Mira took off in pursuit of the robber. _Rookies_! How many times had he told them to not just charge in without a plan? Then again, how many times had he done the same thing…even so, it usually never turned out well for them. "X-R! Stay with me, they're gonna need backup!"

"Oh, good, I thought you were going to make me go up with them. I'm perfectly happy to stay in the back and provide cover." The robot grabbed a single blaster from his chest compartment, readying it for battle.

Buzz blasted off to catch up to his team, X-R close behind. Now closer, the ranger could see that the person was riding some kind of animal – mostly horse shaped – had on a large, wide brimmed red hat, goggles and some kind of cloth wrapped around their nose and the lower part of their face like a mask. Just as the two caught up to the others, Booster let off a laser shot that hit the rider in the upper right shoulder. The rider jerked forward, but otherwise seemed unfazed by the blast. Buzz saw the rider whip around with a blaster at the ready and was just about the fire off a round, but the rider's arm dropped slightly at the sight of them…_Odd, their behavior looks more confused to see us here than hostile_. Buzz completely took his hand off his laser when the rider quickly put the firearm back in it's holster and then kicked the beast in the side to make it go faster. _Then again, he's still running…innocent people don't run_.

"Halt in the name of Star Command!" Mira shouted at the rider, but the rider seemed intent on ignoring them. Mira didn't shoot off her laser, but she looked at Booster and nodded her head. _What in the name of space are they doing?_ Before Buzz had a chance to think on it further, Booster flew right at the rider, knocking them off the animal and tackling them to the sandy ground; the red, wide-brimmed hat went flying off the rider's head. _Wait, a large red hat…_The animal slowed down immediately and started crying, either for their rider or because they were now riderless, Buzz wasn't certain. What he was certain about was that Booster had the rider pinned to the ground…at least until Booster flopped over and didn't move. _Craters_!

With Booster down for the moment, the rider stumbled to their feet and started running for the beast not too far away. "_Ki ki ki ki! Ki ki ki_!" The horse-creature's ears perked and trotted towards the rider, but the rider made no move to mount the creature. Instead, it looked like they were more concerned with it being alright than anything else. The rider hadn't made a move to attack any of the other rangers, but from what Buzz could see, Mira wasn't taking any chances, and went right for the rider on the ground. The female ranger hovered above the ground with her laser trained on the rider. The rider didn't seem at all concerned, and _that_ had Buzz concerned.

"I'm putting you under arrest in the name of Star Command! You are charged with assault, assault of a Star Command ranger, and aggravated grand larceny!" The rider still refused to do anything other than stand there, stroking the muzzle of the creature at her side. "Hey-hey! I'm talking to you!" That must have gotten the riders attention, because the rider moved away from the animal, in a circle around Mira, but continued to make no move towards the ranger. Mira, driven by instinct that wasn't there, dove at the rider in order to apprehend them. The rider in turn, managed to grab a hold of Mira's suit and brought her to the ground, where the two of them wrestled for the upper hand.

_Craters_! "X-R, stay behind me! This isn't one of the robbers!" Buzz flew down to the ground and disengaged his rockets, running over to the two just in time to see Mira be turned around and flung on the ground, one of the rangers arms twisted back and being held by the rider. It was clear to Buzz that the rider knew what they were doing, and had made sure to not tug or pull up anymore else they would have cause serious damage and pain to Mira's arm socket. As it were, Mira was incapacitated and uncomfortable. _But why hasn't she phased yet_?

"Are you their leader?" The rider asked, the voice slightly muffled by the cloth, but to Buzz's ears sounded…feminine?

"Yes, I am Buzz Lightyear, Captain of this-"

"I don't give a hootenanny who ya are! What in tarnation do ya think yer doin?" The rider released Mira's arm and stepped back, allowing the ranger to get up and stumble to Buzz and X-R.

"Uh, we thought you were one of the robbers from the city…" Buzz admitted. In his experience it was better to admit you were wrong and ask forgiveness. "We apologize for…well, attacking you."

The rider snorted, and Buzz just _knew_ they were rolling their eyes. "Yeah, well. Stay outta my way. This ain't ranger business, so take yer rookies, an go home. I ain't got time fer you." The rider walked over to retrieve the hat that had fallen, then turned their back on the team. She walked to the creature, sticking their foot in the stirrup and hauling herself up effortlessly into the saddle.

Buzz was about to interrogate the rider more when X-R and Mira took off to his left towards the poor forgotten Booster. The ranger narrowed his gaze on the rider again, "What did you do to Booster?"

"Your friend will be fine, should be easy enough to wake up now." As the rider was speaking, Mira and X-R were helping Booster to sit up. He looked a little groggy, but no less worse for wear. "Now, if you'll excuse me, Ranger, I have criminals to catch." With that, the rider took off in the direction they had been traveling in before. Knowing they would catch up with this mysterious rider again, Buzz jogged over to his team's side to assess his personnel.

"Booster, what happened?"

"Eh-I don't know Buzz. It's like one minute I was fine and I had 'em on the ground, the next they were scratching up behind my ear and I blacked out." The rookie looked positively crushed. "I'm sorry, Buzz! I know that I failed the team…"

"No, Booster, you did fine. We'll have to check into this later to see if it was something they did, or it's something in your physiology." Buzz's reassurance seemed to brighten Boosters spirits, and that was good enough for him at the moment. "Looks like you're going to be just fine, ranger." He turned his attention to Mira, who looked a little shaken, but otherwise ok. "How's your arm?"

Mira rotated her arm as if seeing how it was. "I'll live. I'll be sore later for sure." She gave her shoulder a quick massage with her other hand. "Something's bothering me though, Buzz. When I was near her, it's like my powers short-circuited…and I know she wasn't a Grounder…so I don't know how she was doing it."

"When we catch back up to her, we'll find out what's going on here." Buzz halted, and blinked. "Wait, _she_?"

Mira looked at him like he had two heads. "Yeah, that rider was a woman." When Buzz still stared at her like he didn't get it, she sighed and rolled her eyes. "Honestly, sometimes I think you're blind. When I was fighting her, I got a good look at her figure. While that doesn't necessarily mean anything, when she opened her mouth the voice was clearly feminine." She then crossed her arms over her chest, "Not to mention I got a different kind of resistance when I tried to kick her sidelong in the chest."

"Oh, you mean when she grabbed onto your leg and then you got a greeting from the ground?" X-R asked too innocently. The glare he received in return made him chuckle nervously and hold his hands up in surrender.

"Ok, team. It's time to get moving again. We have a couple of thieves to catch." Buzz stood and checked his scanner. _Good, she isn't too far ahead of us_.

"Whoa, hold on there Buzz. Didn't she make it crystal clear that she doesn't want our help? I say we just leave her to it!" X-R pointed out.

"We were asked personally by the High Council to take care of these robbers, so it doesn't matter what she wants. We're going after the same people, so she better get used to working with us." Buzz started up his pack and the others followed suit. "Alright, rangers, lets go get some answers before catching some criminals."

The ranger team blasted off and managed to catch up with the rider in a handful of minutes. Buzz came up beside the woman to better talk to her. "I thought I told ya'll to go home?" She grumbled in his direction.

"No can do. We're after the same people, so I figure we could work together. Team up for the greater good yeah?" Now that he knew this rider was female, he could lay on the old Buzz Lightyear charm.

"Ain't not posse of mine…besides, I work alone."

_Where have I heard _that_ before_? "I'm being serious. If we all work together, we have a greater chance of getting these guys faster and more efficiently. So, what do ya say?" Buzz smiled at the woman, hoping to get some kind of reaction from her.

"Like I said before, I work alone. Not interested in working with a bunch of rangers anyway. And I'm being serious as well, take your rookies and go home. This ain't any business of yours."

"It's our business when the High Council asked us to take care of the criminals." The ranger said sternly. "Well, if you won't work with us, then you'll just have to sit back and watch, because we'll get there long before you do."

"I highly doubt that, Ranger. Your packs will never make the trip." The rider sounded confident…_too_ confident. "And before you say anything, no, I didn't do anything to your packs. I'm just trying to give ya a warning." And while Buzz couldn't see the woman's face, he could tell from her voice that she was smirking. "Now wipe that suspicious look off yer face, and I'll try not to gloat too much when I pass you. Hya!" She kicked her mount into high gear and started to pull away from the ranger team.

Buzz pulled back to fly with his team. "Lets go." He gestured to his team to kick up the power, and the group of four sped past the rider. He knew that his team was looking at him questioningly, but none of them voiced a question, so he had nothing to answer for. The woman had no interest in working together. It was that simple. He didn't know what she was up to, or who she was, but Buzz wasn't going to let that bother him…too much. If there was one thing to say about himself, he hated not knowing. Didn't matter what it was, if he didn't have all the facts on or about it, he wasn't satisfied.

They had gotten a good distance away form the rider, and were on their way following the vapor trail. Buzz was lost in his thoughts, which when on a mission wasn't always the best idea. He was shaken out of his thoughts when he lurched in his flight, the pack on his back spitting, then eventually dying. He was about to alert the rest of his team, when the same thing happened to the rest of them. "Emergency landing everyone! We aren't too far from the ground, so it shouldn't be too-" he didn't get to finish the rest of his sentence when he slammed into the ground, tumbling head over heels on the desert sands. Not a moment later, he was slammed into by Booster and the other two rangers continued to thrash against the burning sands. When everyone had finally stopped moving, he called out to see how the team was.

"I'm sorry, were you going to say 'too hard' or 'too bad' because neither of those actually happened." Mira stood shakily, dusting off her ranger suit and immediately checking the diagnostics of her pack. The rest of the team did the same, and each one received the same message – "Air filter clogged? How is that possible?"

"Hmm…" Buzz tried to think of what could have possibly gotten into their packs air intake and then it hit him like a ton of bricks. "The sand! The fine particles of sand are what caused our packs to stop working…" Then the ranger slapped a hand against his forehead. _So that's what she was talking about_. _Damn it_!

"Buzz? What is it?" Booster asked, seeing Buzz's odd behavior.

"That rider warned me in not so many words that we wouldn't make it to the thieves because our packs would stop working. And it's because of the sand! If we hadn't been flying so low, this might not have happened…it's entirely my fault." He could just _kick_ himself right now. Now what were they going to do?

"Well, we could always continue on foot…" Mira suggested.

"According to my instruments, there's some kind of dwelling 6-7 miles from here. I'm betting that's where the bandits are since there doesn't appear to be any other structures near it. The map also says that the closest town isn't for another 20 or so in two different directions."

"So they've made it that their hideout is practically in the center of several major cities. Clever. But not clever enough, we're still going to take them down." Well, on foot was better than nothing if they wanted to keep the element of surprise. The other option would be to call 42 and auto pilot it over and go in all guns blazing. "Let's continue on foot for now, we can always call the ship if we run into trouble."

"What about the rider?" Booster asked, pushing himself up off the sand.

"What _about_ the rider?" Buzz nearly snapped.

"Well, we could always wait and see if she comes by…she might help us." The large ranger offered.

"If she's not willing to team up with us, then she wouldn't be willing to help us. Besides, we're rangers! We don't need her help, we'll be fine on our own." Buzz started to walk off in the direction of the hideout, the other rangers looking at each other somewhat skeptically before falling in behind their captain.

It was going to be a long walk in the hot sun.

* * *

><p>It felt like they had been walking for hours, but that might have just been the sun. The heat was oppressive, and it didn't help that there was little cover and no shade. While their suits would help stabilize their vitals, they wouldn't prevent dehydration or heatstroke. Those were serious concerns for the rangers who required water to survive. Buzz had to admit this wasn't his <em>best<em> plan. If he was being honest with himself, it wasn't really a plan at all. He couldn't call it quits, but he was beginning to feel that it was a hopeless endeavor to have traveled on foot. He should have just called the ship and been done with it, but he didn't want to do it in an area where there were so exposed.

The rangers traveled a little further, finding a large rock outcropping that provided just enough cover and shade for all of them. They practically collapsed in the shade, grateful to be out of the overbearing sun for a little while and taking a well deserved rest. Time seemed to pass slowly out here in the desert, and the sun showed no sign of setting anytime soon. Buzz stood after some time and was getting ready to rally his rangers when a figure moving quickly approached. Squinting his eyes and using his hand as a visor to better see who the approaching figure was. When he got a clear view, he couldn't help but curse his bad luck. "Oh no…"

The rider from earlier slowed down as she approached. She pulled her beast up along the rangers and stopped fully. She crossed her arms over her lap as she turned to them "Well, hey howdy hey! Fancy meeting ya'll out here."

Buzz crossed his arms over his chest, trying to look as big and as intimidating as possible. "Indeed." The ranger replied flatly.

The rider shrugged, "I did warn ya. Not my fault that you didn't listen to me." The rider turned and rummaged around in the right side satchel before tossing water bladders to the rangers. "Figured ya might want somethin' to drink, being as ya been walking around in the desert for a while."

Mira and Booster opened up the bladders immediately and drank greedily from them. Buzz looked at them sternly, "You do realize those could have been poisoned, right?" The two rookies looked at him a moment, before shrugging and continuing to drink. Buzz nearly threw up his arms in frustration.

"They aren't by the way." The rider interjected gently. "Look, I know you rangers are all gung ho about catching these guys, but you don't know the desert like I do. It's why I'm ridin' a critter rather than a land runner. The sand here in this area is very fine, it gets into all kinds of mechanical things and causes them to seize."

"Alright then, answer me this. How is it that the robbers have land runners and they didn't break down?" Buzz asked, letting some of his arrogance through.

The rider shrugged again, "Near as I can tell, they've outfitted the air intake with some kind of cloth-mesh blocker, keepin' the fine sand particles out of the engine." The rider turned her head to look at the two rookie rangers drinking their weight in water. Mira was looking at her water bladder curiously.

"This…this is weird…" She murmured, confusion knitting her brow. "How is it that I keep drinking, but this never seems to empty?" The female ranger looked up at the rider.

"Little trick like learned from a friend I made out in the middle of nowhere." The rider flicked her hand out towards the stars nonchalantly. "Helped him track down his brother who was trying to take over the universe or some nonsense like that…Where he came from, the science is like magic. They had figured out how to do this trick with wine goblets, so I asked them to do it with water for me." She chuckled, "They thought I was mad for wasting such a gift on water." She nodded her head towards to Buzz, indicating the bladder she had tossed him and he seemed to ignore. "Drink up, Ranger. You still have a long walk ahead of you."

Buzz sighed. He couldn't argue with her about the walk, or that he needed to water. So, against his better judgment he drank from the bladder. He was surprised that the water was cool and crisp, even though it had to have been in this heat for hours. "Thank you, but from what you told me earlier, you won't reconsider working together. So why are you helping us?"

"As much as I'm not a fan of people…I can't just ignore them when they're suffering. And it looked like you could really use a drink." The rider shrugged again. Buzz found it odd how carefree this woman seemed to be. Either she was used to this happening, or there was something more going on here. It was entirely possible that she was in fact working with the robbers to lead them off the trail, or gain their trust so she could stab them in the back. "You," she pointed directly at Buzz, "seemed absolutely determined to get the bad guys, even at the expense of yourself, and possibly your crew. I find that commendable, but stupid." Buzz was going to tell her exactly what he thought about that statement, but the woman held her hand out to stop him. "I thought for sure you would have turned back by now, but you haven't. So, I have decided to offer my assistance, and reach out for yours."

Buzz narrowed his eyes at the woman. He still hadn't seen much of her face…really none of it. People who hid their faces from others usually had something to hide. "Why are you wearing a mask and goggles?"

The rider was silent for a moment, as if taken aback. "It comes back to the fine particles of sand. I would rather not get anything in my eyes, or in my lungs, and then not be at my pique performance."

Well that was…a very reasonable answer. Something else still bothered him though. "What about your name?"

Another shrug. "Don't got one."

"Everyone has to have a name!" Booster piped up. "Surely you have a family? And they gave you a name?"

The rider was silent for a much longer period of time. "Don't have a family." The reply was much softer this time around, but far more tense, and it struck something in Buzz and he knew not to ask further.

Before one of the other rangers could say anything he spoke again. "They must call you something? Or something we could call you? Continuing to call you The Rider seems rather impersonal."

The rider cocked her head to the side, "Maybe I would rather remain impersonal." The rider then fidgeted in her seat briefly and scratched the back of her neck. "But I can see…you won't let this go. So if you _must_ call me something…call me Jane."

That was certainly _not_ her name, Buzz knew immediately. So either she was lying because she didn't want them to know who she was because she was one of the bad guys…or she really did want to remain anonymous. For the moment, he would give her the benefit of the doubt. Innocent until proven guilty right? "Alright, Jane. What's the plan?"

"Well, since you're incapable of flight at the moment, the rest of your team are going to head back to your ship, and you'll ride along with me." Jane said like it was perfectly simple.

"But they're my team, we stick together." The ranger interjected.

"I know, I know that splitting the party is something that should never be done. However, I only have enough room on the back of my critter for one, and if it's going to be only one, it should be the most skilled. You were right in thinking that going in stealthily was the right course of action." The beast stomped it's wide foot, seeming to be ready to get going. Jane leaned up and cooed softly to the creature, patting it's neck.

"I'm not leaving my team!" This was one thing he wouldn't budge on. He was not leaving his team out in the desert somewhere. It was a recipe for disaster. Absolutely not, Buzz would stay with his team if that was the case.

Jane leaned over, her posture and body language telling Buzz that she was tense – more than likely frustrated with him. Well, that made two of them. He could tell she was eyeing him over, possibly judging him, but he wasn't going to change his mind regarding his team. "Ya got a ship, right?" Buzz crossed his arms, not knowing what _that_ had to do with anything, but nodded anyway. "It got camouflage?" That he had to think on a moment. As far as he knew, it still had the capability…the LGM's hadn't told them otherwise. He nodded again. "Ok. Call your ship, have your crew over here get on board." Jane waved a hand in the direction of his team. "Then activate the camouflage, and have them follow us. They'll still be close enough to give us backup if, and when, we need it. And it'll still give us the element of surprise on the ground, and in the air." Jane was a quiet a few moments to let that sink in. _Ohh_…

That…actually didn't sound like a bad plan. If she was being truthful and not working with the other bandits. Which was still a possibility. The more he thought on it, he didn't see another option other than the call the ship. His team was obviously tired, and there was no way they could continue on foot like this. Buzz would have called the ship eventually, even if Jane hadn't have shown up. "Alright, but you and I get a head start while my rangers wait for the ship." He turned around to address his team, "Once the ship has arrived, cloak it immediately, then catch up with us. Make sure you stay far enough away to where the robbers don't get suspicious, but close enough where you can tactically come and help us in the event that something goes wrong. Am I clear?" _Knowing how our day has gone so far, something will go wrong_…

"Yes sir!" Booster, Mira and X-R replied. Good. Buzz knew they would do that much, but after that…well, they were still rookies after all. The ranger was banking on them being practically right behind then once he set off with Jane; the ship would easily catch up to them riding the creature. X-R activated the homing beacon for the ship and Buzz nodded in approval. It wouldn't take long for the ship to get to them.

He turned his attention back to Jane. "Alright, Miss, slide back so I can get on." He waved his hand at creature and waited.

"Pardon?"

"Move back so I can get on the creature." He didn't understand how this was hard to comprehend. It was a simple command, why wasn't she moving?

Buzz could see her brow knit, "I don't ride back saddle, now stop foolin' around and get on the critter."

"I will as soon as you move." Buzz was starting to get agitated…he was making grand gestures with his hands.

"No."

"Move."

"No, now get on the damn horse."

Nope, that wasn't going to fly with him. Especially in front of his team. He wasn't going to be taking orders from some, mysterious, no-name, woman out in the desert on an alien planet that he didn't know. Not going to happen. He was putting his boot down, he wasn't going to take it anymore, he…apparently was taking too much time.

Jane's hands shot out faster than he could have expected and grabbed his suit around the collar, hauling him towards herself to where they were nearly nose to nose. Speechless, he didn't even have a witty remark to make - he could finally see eyes behind the tinted goggles – he was so close.

"Get. On. The. _Horse_." She growled before releasing him. Buzz felt a chill go through his body.

He…was going to do what she said, crew seeing him be damned. The captain was surprised when Jane offered him a hand for assistance on getting on the creature. With a little finagling, Buzz managed to get himself up on the creature, situated behind Jane. Not the most comfortable mode of transportation, but it'll work. Jane tipped her hat to his teammates before taking the reigns again, turning her head so that Buzz could only just hear, "Hold on." She let out a 'yah!' and the creatures reared on it's back legs before taking off at a fast pace.

Having nothing else to hold onto, and out of panic of falling off the creature, Buzz latched on to the back of Jane's saddle as they galloped across the desert at a speed that impressed the ranger. This was either going to be a very good idea, or a very bad one.

Buzz wasn't sure what he had gotten himself into.

* * *

><p>The silence was unnerving. He could handle the dead vacuum of space just fine – that was a peaceful silence. And there had been many a time that he had just…floated along in space for one reason or another. Most of those times involved him being jettisoned from his ship and being left stranded until another ranger happened across him. But those were oddly peaceful, gave him a chance to evaluate things in his life…normally just thinking back on things that he never got a chance to do, in case he was left there for eternity. However, someone always seemed to have his back in those cases, and in a short amount of time, he would be found and retrieved.<p>

This silence though…it was different. He wasn't alone; there was someone else here with him. Buzz felt awkward on the back of a horse creature with a woman he didn't even know, but was off to catch the criminals with. Normally that wouldn't be so odd, he met people all over the universe and teamed up near strangers for the greater good…but this just felt…_different_. And he couldn't figure out why. He supposed that he could at least have a conversation with most the people he worked with. There was no conversation here. Not even small talk.

And it was driving him _nuts_!

Buzz was pulled out of his thoughts when the creature started to slow down. Jane pulled out a small, pocket sized scanner from her duster and looked at some schematics of the land. While it was different than the one X-R had, it showed the exact same thing. The vapor trail was much stronger in this area, and they were much closer to the hideout than before. That must have been why they slowed down, it would do them no good to make a huge announcement to the robbers by galloping at full speed.

"Looks like we'll be there in under twenty minutes." Jane commented, putting the small device away. Buzz nearly jumped at the sound of her voice, not expecting her to say anything. She turned at the waist and pressed something on the side of her goggles, looking behind them and at the sky. "Your rookies are doing a good job staying close, but not too close."

"How can you tell? They're supposed to be undetectable." If there were a way to see the ship while cloaked, then it wasn't very effective was it?

Jane shrugged and pressed the same button, turning off whatever she had done. "Engines still put out a heat signature…was just looking through infrared."

_Note to self, tell LGM's about infrared and see if there's a way to fix it_. Lost in his musings, and with Jane once again facing forward he thought that was the end of it. The conversation thus far, while lacking, may have been for the best. He might not have liked the silence, but it was better than arguing with this woman if the previous one was anything to go by. Buzz hadn't expected her to start talking again. "How are you doing?"

"Hm?" He perked up, completely missing what she said, but hearing that she said something. Jane was talking to him, right?

"Are you comfortable back there?" Jane asked, turning her head to the side to better talk to him.

Buzz sighed, "No. I'm on the back of a horse-creature in a space suit with no saddle." He didn't mean to sound as grumbly as he did, but it wasn't everyday that he rode horses, let alone one that wasn't completely a horse. Even in an air circulated space suit, it was hot under the sun, but Jane's large brimmed hat did offer him some cover...even if it wasn't much. No, he was beyond uncomfortable, and he was pretty sure his backside had fallen asleep long ago.

Jane chuckled softly, and Buzz would have missed it had he not been paying attention. "Here, wrap your arms around my waist…" She gently grabbed one his hands and placed it around her waist, "And lean forward a little bit…let my body take some of the weight for you." Buzz hesitated; while he wanted to be more comfortable on the horse, he didn't feel overly…confident about what she was saying. How can that even work? It didn't seem possible. Not to mention how awkward it would feel. With just his one arm around Jane's waist – she still had hold of his wrist – he couldn't help but tell how small and thin she seemed there was no way she could take any of his weight. _Wait, why was he thinking about this_? _He shouldn't be thinking about her body like that. No, stop it! Stop it brain!_

"Wake up Ranger, I can hear your brain working too hard." Jane chuckled again, and this time he felt it more than heard. Buzz could feel heat on his face and he knew it wasn't the suns doing. Great, now he was getting flustered over absolutely _nothing_. _Pull it together Lightyear! _"I'm not joking when I say this works. Trust me, I've been riding for years, I know what I'm doing." Jane finally let go of his wrist, and let him do what he wished. "Besides, wouldn't want you to be saddle sore by the time we get there. Makes for unpleasant fighting."

Gritting his teeth, Buzz gave in and did was she said. _This better work, and not some weird thing to try and get him close to her…women do strange things sometimes_. It was just as awkward as he thought it was going to be, having his arms wrapped around her waist and leaning his upper body against her back. Jane didn't say a word, so she must not have been bothered by it. After a few moments, Buzz noticed something odd; in this new position he could feel the rocking of the horse-creature and he could better move with the animal. _So that's what she was getting at_. With this information, he found that he wasn't as stiff and his soreness was ebbing away. All he had to do was focus on the movements of the beast…and not the fact that he was leaning against this mysterious woman. _Shut up brain_.

"Since we are getting close to the hideout now, I suppose I should ask what you know about the Devil's Rejects?" Jane had her head turned again, waiting for a response. Well, that certainly woke him out of his thoughts.

"Who?"

"The robbers we're after. They're known as the Devil's Rejects, because of the heinous crimes they commit not even the devil would want 'em."

Buzz thought a moment, but came up with nothing. "Can't say I've heard of them. What do you know about them?"

"Not much more than you, I would suspect. I only just recently got any information on them. From what the underground whispers, they're guys you want to avoid at all costs…robbery, hijacking, murder, rape…anything that could be considered a crime, they've done it." Clicking her tongue, she urged the horse to pick up the pace a little. "I ran into two of them at the bank…the third brother was probably waiting for the other two to return."

"Wait, there's more than two?" And that's where that something he thought about earlier came in. Great…that's just great. Buzz couldn't even contact his team to inform them because of the radio silence. How could this day _possibly_ get worse?

"As far as I know…been trackin' em for nearly a month and I've never seen another one." The dwelling slowly came into view, the two on the horse feeling a familiar rigidness in their spines, and the three in the air keeping a close and careful eye out. Jane pulled the beast over to the last rock outcrop and had Buzz dismount first, following closely after him. She turned the creature the direction before giving it a swift slap on the rump, causing the horse to take off. Buzz looked at her like she was crazy. She just got rid of her transportation! "Don't give me that look, Ranger. The critter is trained to return to it's home if startled away from it's rider." Jane straightened out her long duster and adjusted her hat. "Ready?"

Buzz gave a nod, "Let's go." The two set out from the rock cropping towards the small shack of a house in the middle of the desert. Surprisingly, they made it to the side of the house without event or being noticed. _At least something's going right today_. Jane and Buzz were crouched below a window with their backs to the shack, listening to the people inside.

"I'm tellin' ya, we gotta boost. She's getting too close an we need to disappear."

"Don't be stupid. She'll never track us here. Besides, we're making a killing on this planet."

"I don't think that's a good idea. I saw rangers in that last city we hit. If that ridiculous alliance is getting involved, I don't want to be anywhere near here."

"You two are spineless junk, you know that? We'll be fine for at least another heist..." There was the sound of one of them moving around. "I feel like having some _companionship_."

Next to him, he could see Jane tense up. It didn't take a genius to figure out what that one was talking about. From what Buzz could tell, there were three distinct voices, so far matching the story Jane gave him. Well, these boys were going to get a very rude awakening in just a few moments. "They're going down." The ranger growled lowly. Jane whipped her head towards him when he spoke, and knew that he was getting some kind of _look_ from her. "I'm going in the front, give me cover from the back." He didn't even wait for her to respond before he was sneaking off to go blasting in the front door. They'll never see it coming! Once he made it to the front, he gave himself a handful of seconds before he kicked down the door, laser at the ready. "I'm placing you all under arrest for…robbery?" He found himself staring at three very large, very angry looking thugs. Each one had to have been at least 8 foot tall and built like tanks with hide that looked like solid rock. It also didn't help that each one had a very large blaster on each shoulder and another in their curved claws. _Craters_.

The thugs didn't even bother to talk before they started firing at him. The best Buzz could do was attempt to find cover that _didn't exist_. Not a moment later, he heard a window to his right shatter and the added sound of another blaster. He saw a flash of red and knew that it was Jane. A blaster shot zoomed past him as he saw the woman kick the shooter in the side of the head, causing the shot to be wide. While it was a squarely placed kick, it appeared to have cause no damaged whatsoever to the creature, and it effortlessly grabbed her and tossed her in Buzz's direction. The ranger wasn't fast enough to evade and was flattened by the person projectile. Jane recovered more quickly, slamming a fist on the ground in frustration before scrambling off the ranger and returning fire. Buzz was on his feet a second later, firing his laser as fast as he could manage.

"She's found us! _Get rid of her_!" The eldest of the robbers bellowed. One of the shorter bandits aimed his blaster at Jane, firing off shot after shot laughing menacingly as he went. "Just wait till the boys back home hear I killed Bazooka Jane!" The name barely registered in his brain, his focus on the fight. Jane managed to get off a shot that hit the eldest of the bandits in the eyes, his roar of pain and fury rattling Buzz's bones. While the leader was distracted, Jane was rummaging around in her duster, and apparently finding what she was looking for, threw the thing at the temporarily blinded leader. He barely heard the 'get down!' over the melee, and hit the ground a moment later right before a large explosion ripped through the shack, ripping two of the walls away from the rest of the structure. When he looked up, the leader of the robbers was lying motionless on it's back. And that's when it clicked in his brain. _Bazooka Jane…the bounty hunter_!?

Buzz didn't have time to think on it long before he was roughly kicked in his side, sending him flying through the newly created hole in the shack. After flipping over himself in the sand, Buzz was on his feet and ready for a fight. He could see out of his peripheral that the rest of his team were on their way, firing their lasers in the safe area of the shack, peppering the remaining robbers with laser fire. He ran back into the fray taking the attention of one bandit to get it off of Jane. The woman was fast, but evasion wasn't everything in a fight; you had to be able to attack. Buzz was nearly distracted when Jane did something the looked incredibly stupid – she rushed the giant rock creature she was keeping occupied. Jane used her strength and momentum to target the creatures leg, shoving with her shoulder and then forcing upward, causing the robber to lose his balance and stumble into it's brother. Buzz took the opportunity to direct his team to lay heavy attack on the creatures, firing his laser in strategic spots to disarm the creatures of their weaponry.

That didn't stop them, however, and they were once again attacking anything that moved. One of the bandits swung their arm wide, clipping X-R and causing him to fall out of the air. The little robot hit the sand and immediately fell to pieces. "Like no one knew that was going to happen! Uhh, just pick up my pieces when you're done saving they day…" The bandit Buzz was fighting lost his footing when he received a right hook from the ranger and stumbling to catch his balance, kicked X-R's head further from the fight. "Watch the head!"

"Rookies, cover me!" Jane shouted over the din to Mira and Booster, pulling the wrapped up silver colored rope from her hip. The two started flying around the heads of the bandits, being as annoying as possible when they saw Jane twirling a lasso over her head, looking for the right opening before letting the rope loose. She threw the lasso perfectly over the head of one of the bandits and pulled it tight, the bandit caught off guard when it's air supply was choked off. She darted in and out of the two bandits, running circles through and around them. Buzz caught on quickly to what she was doing and assisted his team in distracting the thugs. When Jane stopped moving, she gave a swift tug on the rope and the two bandits collided with each other and toppled to the ground. Team Lightyear descended on the bandits, quickly and efficiently subduing them, putting on cuffs strong enough to contain the giants.

Buzz and his team took a well deserved breather; Booster took a sack and started to collecting all of X-R's parts, he made sure the felons were truly and thoroughly out of commission and Mira…well, she had something to say to the only other female in the area.

"Ok, first of all, thank you, I guess for helping us out." Mira didn't even exchange pleasantries with Jane before she started in on her. Jane didn't seem to mind. "Second of all, we aren't you team. We don't even know you, so you don't give us orders. You know, our captain does that, you aren't him…even if you made a good call…twice. That still doesn't change anything! So yeah, don't give us orders. Geeze, you aren't even a space ranger! Anyway, where was I?"

"I think you were getting to your third point, if you had one?" Jane offered helpfully.

"Right! Thanks. Third, we still don't know who you are, and I think that we deserve to know that much, seeing as we just had a fight together. Not that _we_ fought, but we were fighting on the same side, And-"

"Watch out!" Jane practically screeched, hip checking the female ranger out of the way. In a split second the woman created a small, oval shaped plasma shield by slamming her forearms together, that was hit another second later by a powerful laser cannon blast. The force of impact sent Jane flying an impressive distance back, sending her through one of the last standing walls of the shack and landing roughly in the sand where she tumbled. She didn't get up immediately.

"What have you done to my brothers!" A female of the same species as the robbers screamed. She had a pack on and was hovering in the air. "No, matter, I'll just kill you all!" With a cackle, the female creature started firing at the rangers, not bothering with Jane, who continued to be still.

"There's anther one? How many of these guys are there?" Mira returned fire, once again taking to the air.

"I thought there was only three!" Buzz maneuvered on the ground, letting his team manage the air. It was never a good day when your pack didn't work properly. The ranger was too busy trying to shoot down the female creature's armaments, that he didn't notice the figure coming up fast behind him. He heard her first, which was surprising enough, but then he saw her and he nearly stopped.

"God damn cotton-picker! No good varmint busted my goggles! I know who's getting a biff today!" Jane had charged back into the fray, laser pistol firing at the creature in the air. When she got close enough, Jane chucked her ruin goggles at the creature, hitting her square in the face and giving the Lightyear team the opening to take her down. Booster came up from behind the creature and hit her with enough force to incapacitate her pack and send her hurtling to the ground. Buzz did stop, however, when Jane charged the downed creature, kicking the female when she tried to get up. The ranger watched as Jane hauled the female up by her collar – much like she had done to him earlier – and snarl in her face. "This is fer bustin' my goggles." And with that, Jane punched the creature in the face so hard it knocked the female out cold. Jane stepped back, shaking her hand out that was no doubt sore from the collision. He watched as Mira tossed Jane a pair of cuffs and Jane did the honors of properly securing the criminal.

Buzz couldn't help but stare in open-mouthed astonishment. While he had seen tough women fighters, one of which was on his team, he didn't think he had seen such a fiery display of it. She had lost her hat sometime during the fight, exposing long red hair that was kept in a braid. Mira was talking excitedly with the bounty hunter, no doubt thanking the woman in her own way for saving her from that blast. Jane didn't seem bothered by the energetic behavior from the rookie, joining in the conversation when prompted. Looking around the area, Buzz saw that Booster was nearly done putting X-R together, and from experience would start loading the criminals onto the ship when that was done. Clearing his thoughts, he made his way over to Mira and Jane. "Mira, go help Booster and X-R get these scumbags into the holding cells. Report to me when they've been secured." The female ranger saluted and darted off to go help her teammates.

"Sending the rookies to do your work for you, eh?" Jane had her arms crossed across her chest, but her expression was all good natured ribbing.

"It helps build character." Buzz replied smoothly. Now that he was closer, he finally got a good look at Jane. She had a round face with an impish nature, though her cheeks looked a little gaunt. Her hair was like he saw before, a fiery red pulled back into a braid, several loose strands blowing gently with the wind. The most stunning feature were her eyes. They were large, giving her an almost innocent look, and they were the most beautiful shade of emerald Buzz had ever seen. He was struck dumb when he looked into those eyes, and he quickly looked away, trying to gather his previous thoughts. Clearing his throat, and attempting to look anywhere but her face, he continued with his previous thought. "How are you feeling?"

Jane shrugged, "Nothin' I ain't used to. I'll be fine." Buzz looked at her then, shock apparent on his face. Once again, he was grabbed by the brightness of her eyes. _Damn it_.

"You were blasted through a building." The ranger said dumbly.

Jane's eyebrow rose at that, her mouth quirking into a smirk. "Noticed that, did you?" She was teasing him, he knew it, and he hated to be teased…but he didn't feel irritated when she did it. "I'm fine, Ranger. Don't worry about me." A silence fell between them. There was something else there, Buzz just _knew_ it, but with no evidence to support a line of questioning, he decided to keep his mouth shut.

Just as the silence was about to move into awkward, something popped into Buzz's had. "So…Bazooka Jane."

"You got me. I'm surprised your rookies didn't hear that, the moron was screaming his head off enough." Jane shrugged, not bothering to deny who she was. She hadn't ever broken any Galactic Alliance or Star Command laws, so she had nothing to worry about.

Buzz sighed, "They had a bounty on them, didn't they." This was a huge mess. That headache he had been thinking about earlier was finally starting to make an appearance. Bounty hunters usually never gave up on a bounty, it was their livelihood. However, this woman didn't act like the typical bounty hunter. She hadn't attacked them, or spouted nonsense about keeping them for the bounty. He had to wonder what her motivation was, now that the robbers were in his custody.

"They did, but you don't have to worry about it, Ranger. All I need it proof that their reign of terror is over. Seeing that you're going to be taking on that responsibility, I'm not concerned. I'll still get paid." Well, that makes things simple, at least for him. Less paperwork anyway. Jane ran a hand over her head and it's like a switch had been flipped. Her eyes widened and she started twirling around, looking for her hat. Seeming to find what she was looking for, she jogged over to the now wrecked shack and found her hat in a pile of rubble. Dusting the thing off, as well as giving it a good shake, Jane placed the hat on her head. Buzz had to admit, she looked good in that hat.

The ranger's wrist communicator beeped and he opened it, Mira's face appearing in the view screen. "Buzz, we're all ready up here."

"10-4 Mira. Why don't you bring the ship down here so I can board. My pack still isn't functioning."

"Right! Of course, be there in a minute." And Mira cut the connection.

Buzz turned his attention back to Jane, who was walking back to his location. The ship behind him landed and the ramp started to make it's descent towards the ground. "Well, it's time for us to head out. We have a bunch of prisoners that we need to get into the system." He held his hand out to Jane, "It was a pleasure working with you."

"If by pleasure you mean an adrenalin filled, all out knuckle brawl, then yes. I'd say so." The bounty hunter met him halfway and grabbed his hand to shake. She let go of his hand and stepped back to a respectable distance. "Until next time, Ranger." Jane gave Buzz a mischievous smirk that had the ranger second guessing his sanity. Behind her, the sand was kicking up as another ship landed – presumably her own ship, it was still cloaked – and she turned away from him and headed towards the craft. Thinking it best to do the same, he boarded 42 to set back for the capital and inform the High Council that the robbers had been taken care of.

It didn't take any time at all to get back to the capital, but it did seem to take a while to get in contact with the High Council. You'd think they would want to meet with the rangers right away to find out what happened to the stolen goods, but no. Then again, that was typical of those in power, Buzz had come to understand. When they finally got a meeting with the High Council, the team was exhausted and ready to head back to Star Command. They were greeted by the Elder of the High Council, and he shook each one of their hands.

"I've been informed you have good news for me?" He asked simply.

"Yes sir. We have apprehended the criminals and we plan on taking them back to Star Command so they can be dealt with properly." Buzz informed the councilman.

"Excellent! I'm pleased to hear this. We will make a good note for you to your superior officer for your outstanding achievement."

Booster started to tap Buzz on the shoulder, and for a few moments, it was easy to ignore. But being as tired as he was had a short fuse at the moment. "What is it?"

"Buzz, we forgot to get the stolen property." The ranger had the most 'deer-caught-in-the-headlights' look Buzz had ever seen on him before.

The captain grumbled and slapped himself in the forehead. "Craters." He faced the Elder once again, "Sir, I apologize for myself and my team…we failed to retrieve the stolen property from the robbers." As soon as the sentence left his mouth, he could have kicked himself. _Jane_. She must have collected the stolen property and kept it for herself! That's why she didn't seem bothered that he was keeping the criminals. Blasted bounty hunters!

The Elder scrunched his face in confusion. "Whatever do you mean, Mr. Lightyear?"

"We didn't collect the stolen property that the thieves stole from the bank, and your other citizens." Buzz clarified. If he ever ran into that bounty hunter again-

"That strikes me as most odd." The Elder tapped his chin in thought before he continued, "Considering that I received a half dozen or so reports from my enforcement teams that everything had been returned in full, nearly two hours ago."

Buzz couldn't help the shock from showing on his face, and neither could his team. "What?"

"My people have received all their stolen property, Mr. Lightyear. I can see, clearly now, that it wasn't your teams doing. Nevertheless, my people are happy to have their valuables returned to them. And as far as I'm concerned, if my people are happy, I'm happy." The Elder reached out and pat the captain on the shoulder, "Thank you for your services, space rangers. I look forward to seeing you again in the future." With that the Elder took his leave.

"Let's go home." Buzz called to his team after staring at the spot the Elder had been in for several minutes.

"But Buzz! What about-"

"It's not worth it, Booster." Buzz waved the rookie off, "I think we have plenty to do with the criminals still on board my ship. We're heading out." The rest of the team didn't speak up as they followed their leader back to the ship. The take-off preparations went smoothly, though silently. His team must be as lost in their thoughts as he was; they weren't prone to being quiet like this.

As they broke the planets gravitational pull and blasted off into space, Buzz couldn't help but think about his day. It was certainly exciting, there was no doubt about that. And as much as he didn't want to, his thoughts kept drifting off to a certain fiery bounty hunter. She had surprised him more than once today. Especially when he thought that she had taken the stolen goods.

Buzz settled down into his captain's chair, feeling the familiar calmness of being in space pull at him. His traitorous brain reminded him of Jane's parting words to him: _Until next time, Ranger_. He couldn't help the smile that crept across his face at the thought, a feeling of excitement trilling through him.

He looked forward to it.

* * *

><p>Let's play a fun game called spot all my stupid jokes...which is really just spot the random references. One per person, and if you find one, big space cookie for you!<p> 


	2. Fragile

_Four years later..._

Buzz tried not to fume, sitting in the corner of this black hole of a bar. Sure, he could have chosen any of the higher end places, if there were any on this blasted planet. But no, he felt that this would be the kind of place the slime of the galaxy would frequent. And he had been right. Just about every single criminal that Star Command had arrested at one point or another had made an appearance. And he had only been here for an hour at most! To tell the truth, he was itching to grab as many as the scumbags as he possibly could…

But that's not why he was here…

No, Commander Nebula had sent him on a _reconnaissance_ mission. A reconnaissance mission of all things! The Commander knew he didn't do well with just observing criminals being all…criminal-ly. It just wasn't his style. It also didn't help that he was sent here with virtually no protection of any kind. Nebula had allowed him to hold onto his back-up blaster, but that was it. No suit, no laser, and no back up to speak of. While he did have his pocket communicator for emergencies, it wasn't comforting. He could only do so much if he ended up getting into a fight, and he certainly couldn't call star command if he was dead.

At the same time, Buzz knew that Nebula would never have sent him here if the Commander had any doubt in Buzz's skills as a ranger. He was picked for this mission because he could handle it and, for the most part, could keep a cool head in the worst of situations. Which brings him back to his sad, little corner of this hole in the wall. Dressed in a dark hoodie, dark jeans, and old sneakers, the ranger knew that no one would bother him. He was trying to be a chameleon after all, best to blend in by looking like the locals of Trade World. If anyone so much as approached his location, he hunched his posture as much as possible and _growled_ at them. So far, it had been working.

Buzz was careful to make notes of who came in, how long they stayed, and who they talked to. If Star Command was going to be more efficient at catching criminals, they were going to have to break down the webs of communication between them. At the moment, there wasn't anyone to make note of…though the guy sitting at the bar had been there for some time, nursing whatever concoction the bar tender was serving today. It was a large man, at least his own height if not taller. He was dressed in reds and blacks, with a long tattered cloak around his neck that draped over his back. The mustache looked a little odd on the man, but he wasn't one to judge on facial hair. Looked like your typical trouble maker, so Buzz decided to make a note on him, even if he'd never run across the guy before. The thing that bothered the ranger, however, was this guy didn't talk to anyone around him…just kept to himself and didn't seem to be there to deal. Most odd indeed. _Perhaps he wasn't a local_?

He was broken out of his thoughts and observations by the doors swinging open. The way that he had wedged himself into the corner was to best see the entire bar at once…this however left a blind spot that included the entrance to the…establishment. A small price to pay in order to keep tabs on everyone else in the bar.

The figure moved passed him briskly. Slender, from what Buzz could tell from the long jacket the person wore, probably female given the height…but it could be a young man as well. From what else he could see: brown boots that looked well worn in, dark pants from what he caught as the figure moved by. He looked down at his pocket scanner and it was reading a small handful of blasters and pistols – all legal. The only other striking thing about this new arrival was the large, wide brimmed, red hat. _Wait a minute. I've seen that red hat before…_The woman – Buzz decided by the way they were walking – continued to the bar and took a seat right next to the big guy. He couldn't see her face, since she was on the other side of the big guy, but he could just barely tell she was talking to someone. Probably the bar tender, given that he poured a glass of something and put it in front of her. If Buzz hadn't been so deep in thought, trying to remember where he had seen that hat before, he might not have missed the brief conversation between the woman and the big guy before the room erupted into chaos.

It seemed cliché to Buzz to say that the room was calm one second, and explosive the next, but it happened. The big guy made the first move, backing away from the bar and pulling out a blaster and firing it at the woman. Buzz got a good look at her face in that moment, and a name popped into his mind. _Jane_. For over a year that name had been emblazoned into his brain, and even now it made it presence known. Jane didn't waste any time in disarming the man, swiftly kicking the blaster out of his hand and then tackling him. The two rammed into the bar top, the big guy getting his back pinned there for a moment before pushing Jane off and away from him. "Blasted bounty hunter, you'll not take me back!" The big guy gave one of those stereotypical evil laughs, pulling out another blaster and shooting at Jane. She dove behind an upturned table – the place was practically deserted now; once the fight started people made themselves scarce – cursing as she went. Using the table as cover Jane returned fire at the big guy who had since decided to take cover behind the bar.

"Mitch! Ya best give up now! Ya ain't getting out of here free!" The bounty hunter called from behind the table. The blasting temporarily stopped. Mitch was either thinking of a way out or taking her seriously…best to assume the former.

During this time, Buzz hadn't moved an inch – he hadn't needed to. The weapons fire managed to miss him every single time, and it was obvious that neither party had noticed his presence. But this left the ranger in a dilemma. He could do one of two things. One: he could try and sneak out of the bar and radio for backup and hope that the two of them didn't end up killing each other before other rangers made it. Two: he could join the fight and maybe the two of them could take down this Mitch guy, he could then report to Star Command once everything had settled down..._Eh, who was he kidding, he was getting into that fight_.

Slipping from his chair into a crouch on the ground, he observed what was left of the bar. If he could sneak from table to table, he should be able to get close enough to the bar to get behind it, and get to Mitch. He was lucky; Jane kept Mitch talking enough that they were both distracted with the other and he made it one table closer. While he knew they were talking, or rather shouting back and forth at each other, Buzz wasn't paying too much attention to the conversation. Things would turn out better if he kept focused on his task. Well, he _hoped_ they would anyway. One more table down…half a dozen to go. Great. This continued of for a handful more tables, and he was practically at the bar. _So close_…

"_Meep_!" Buzz stopped what he was doing and dared to peek over the table he was currently behind. Jane was also peeking out from over a table, an absolutely impish look on her face. The blasting stopped again, and Mitch stood to his full height, deadly glare in his eyes.

"You insult me in my native tongue!" Mitch growled dangerously, tossing his empty blaster away and was inching his hand behind his back. "I dare you to do it again."

Jane's impish grin turned downright devilish. _Don't. She can't possibly_- "_Meep_." _She did_. Buzz could have smacked himself in the face for that, he should have seen it coming.

"That's it!" Mitch vaulted over the bar counter and landed heavily on the floor. The force jarred the turned over tables and his moved just enough that if Mitch looked down, he'd be able to see the ranger. _Don't look. Don't look. Don't look_. Buzz stayed stock still, even held his breath waiting for Mitch to make his move towards Jane and leave his hiding spot unnoticed.

Luck was not on his side that day.

Mitch looked down and the two men's eyes locked onto each other, staring each other down as the second ticked by slowly. Buzz blinked, hoping against hope that Mitch didn't _actually_ see him there. Mitch's features twisted with rage and he lunged for the ranger, grabbing him by the throat. _Craters_! Mitch hauled him up and flung him in Jane's direction. Buzz slammed into the table that had been Jane's cover and kept going, taking the bounty hunter with him. "Two against one isn't really fair, now is it? And I'm supposed to be the evil one!" Mitch reached behind his back like he had before and this time pulled out a very large, two handed blaster.

"Mph! _Get off me_!" Jane cried, doing a rather good job of shoving the space ranger off of her. Buzz had landed sideways across her, essentially pinning her to the ground. Well, had been pinned. She was very good at maneuvering out of situations. "Get outta here, yer gonna get yerself killed!" Jane snarled at his face-down form. The bounty hunter then swiftly got to her feet in order to shoot at Mitch, but quickly ducked down behind the table again when an explosion wracked through the bar from behind them. Mitch cackled from the other side of the bar, charging up his weapon again.

"Like it, _Hunter_? I made it myself." With another evil laugh from Mitch he fired again, upturning tables to the two's right sending wood and other debris through the air.

"_Damn it_." Buzz heard Jane growl, making his way over to the woman now that he had finally righted himself. He crouch-crawled next to her and tapped her arm to get her attention. Jane whipped around and pointed her gun at Buzz's face and for a moment he thought he was a goner. But before she could fire, recognition flashed in her emerald eyes and she immediately lowered the firearm. "_Jesus Christ_ Ranger! I nearly blew ya away!" She hissed at him, and he was never so grateful to be cursed at. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing." Buzz returned in a hushed tone. Another explosion temporarily silenced him, more wood and debris flying at them from the left this time. Buzz lifted an arm to shield his face and Jane did the same. He as getting really tired of this Mitch guy, his evil laughter was annoying.

Jane rolled her eyes, giving him an 'are you serious' look. "Isn't it obvious? I'm trying to take that guy down."

"Sure doing a great job of it so far." Buzz snarked.

"I don't see you doing any better!" Jane hissed, daring to peek around the edge of the table they were hiding behind. It was a mistake as Mitch fire again, and several pieces of flying wood caught the bounty hunter across the face, making her flinch back. That wasn't the worst of it, though. Buzz could clearly see a large piece of wood had embedded itself into Jane's upper arm. When she glanced at him and saw his obvious stare, she looked at what had caught his attention. _How had she not noticed that_? "Oh…" Jane blinked at it a moment before doing something Buzz would have never expected – Jane grabbed onto the piece of wood and _pulled_. With what appeared to be little resistance, the piece of wood dislodged from her arm. This wasn't a little splinter of a thing either, this was a piece of _wood flooring_. The bounty hunter broke her cover just long enough to chuck the piece of wood in villain's direction. "Hey Mitch!"

The two of them heard the connection of the piece of wood. "Ow, what is this? Wait…is that blood? That's disgusting! Ew, ew, ew, ew! Get it off get it off _get it off_-"

While Mitch was distracted, Jane turned her attention back to Buzz – who wasn't paying attention because he was too busy looking at the woman's _smile_. _How can that possibly be distracting_? "Do you have a blaster on you?" She asked, breaking the trance. Buzz nodded, pulling out his back up blaster. "Ok, on the count of three, you go that way, and I'll go this way, and we'll hit him from both sides. Sound good?" Seemed like a sound plan to him, and from what he could hear from Mitch, was still thoroughly distracted. He nodded his head again and waited for the signal. "Ready? …Three!" The two jumped up from behind the table and started firing at Mitch. Each got in several good hits, knocking out Mitch's main shield defenses and the man dropped to one knee. Buzz and Jane cautiously inched towards Mitch, Buzz kicking the large blaster away. He'll take that back to Star Command and hand it off to the LGM's.

Mitch's body was sparking and having spasms, but it didn't seem to deter the criminal. Mitch only laughed, looking up that the two, wide grin on his face. "You'll never win. You may have gotten me now, but I'll be out and about before you know it!" With the last of the suits strength, Mitch shot his hand out and grabbed onto Jane's leg, ripping it out from under her. The bounty hunter toppled backwards and landed roughly onto the splintered floor. Without thinking, Buzz looked back briefly to see if Jane as alright before kicking Mitch across the face, hard enough to knock the man out.

Buzz reached a hand down to help Jane stand up. He more pulled her up than anything else. "Are you alright?"

"Nothing I can't handle." The bounty hunter stepped away from Buzz and crouched down to Mitch. Hitting a button on the collar of his suit, the mechanical body opened and Mitch rolled out onto the floor. Buzz had to admit, he wasn't expecting that. Mitch was a small, white alien creature that might have been a little over two feet tall. Most of that height was his head. Jane picked the little creature up like a stuffed animal and handed him over to Buzz, who held him at arms length. Jane pressed another button and the suit collapsed into a tiny cube, which she picked up and stuck in a pocket.

That's when Buzz noticed. "You're bleeding."

"Then I'll rub some dirt on it later." She rolled her eyes and held her hands out to take Mitch back.

The ranger was taken aback. "I'm being serious. You should have that checked out, that was a large chunk of wood that was in your arm."

Jane just shrugged, "I'm used to it." Buzz was dumbstruck. How can someone be so used to getting impaled by debris that it becomes something not to worry about? The ranger was beyond concerned for this woman, didn't seem like she shared the sentiment.

"I insist. Come back with me to Star Command, and I'll have one of the techs look at it." He deflated a little when she sent him a hard look.

"The only way I'm going to your Star Command is if I'm unconscious or in a body bag." Buzz felt like he was slapped in the face. There was no reason to be so crass about it, a simple 'no thanks' would have been sufficient. He was going to give her a piece of his mind when she became distracted. Jane started looking around the area for something, and in the silence, Buzz could hear a very faint beep. _What_? Another moment passed and Jane must have found what she was looking for and snapped her head in his direction. She roughly shoved Mitch back into his hands, "Take him and get ta cover!"

"What? Why?" The ranger didn't understand what the rush was until Jane pulled some rubble away to reveal a small round device attached to the bar. There were little numbers counting down and making a soft beeping noise. Then it clicked as to why Jane was in such a rush. _Oh, craters_. Buzz could see they didn't have time. He watched as the little numbers counted closer to zero, and felt that if this was the last thing he did as a ranger, then his life was worth it. Buzz prepared himself for the blast, but someone else didn't think the same as he did. His mind tried to catch up with his body when he was roughly shoved towards his personal corner that he had been watching from most of the night. He rolled over just in time to see two tables being kicked in his direction, essentially blocking him in. The tables pushed him further towards the floor, giving him no choice but to bunker down before the explosion. When he tried to sit up to see where Jane had gone to, he saw that she wasn't standing next to the bomb anymore, but not behind any cover either. Buzz could see past her the number going from 3, to 2, and in the last moment, he looked to Jane, knowing there was no way to save her. _He couldn't save her_! She gave him a bright smile, squared her large hat on her head –

And rag dolled onto the floor.

The explosion went off a second later, the shockwave blowing out what windows were still standing. Then there was heat and the force pressing on his body. _There was no way…how could she have survived_? _He couldn't _save_ her. Didn't save her. _After a few moments, Buzz chanced a look over his makeshift bunker. The bar was completely obliterated. The place was in disarray and ruins. Buzz thought it was lucky that the bomb only blasted, in an outward force, and didn't involve fire of any kind. So he didn't have to worry about putting out flames and smoke inhalation as well. At least that was a plus.

Taking a chance to stand up, though shakily, he climbed around the table barricade. _Craters, it looked even worse after he stood up_. Buzz held Mitch tightly to himself, more or a reassurance than to restrain him, since the small alien was still unconscious. Stumbling through the wreckage, he didn't expect to see a splotch of red fabric. The ranger's brows furrowed as he took a closer look. _Wait, that looked like_-

Jane.

Buzz dropped to his knees next to the jumble of debris and frantically started to clear away the rubble. He cleared enough away to reveal that Jane was still in one piece, though she wasn't moving. _How_? He shook his head, _not the time_. Buzz reached out tentatively and placed two fingers against Jane's throat, he felt his entire body relax some – she was still alive. The ranger fumble in his hoodie for his pocked communicator, flipping it open and sending a frequency to Star Command.

"Star Command, this is Buzz Lightyear. Do you read?" The line was nothing but static for a few seconds before Commander Nebula's face appeared.

"Damn it, Lightyear! You were supposed to be on a reconnaissance mission! What have I told you-"

Buzz didn't let the Commander continue, "Sir, I'm requesting a medical team and back up to my location asap."

That made the Commander pause. "What the hell have you gotten yourself into this time?" The older man grumbled.

The ranger thought it best to make it known that it wasn't him who needed the medical team. "I'm fine, Sir. I'll explain everything once I get back to Star Command."

"You bet your ass you will! Do you have any idea how much paperwork this is gonna cost me? I'll expect you to be there for every single paper signed, Lightyear."

Buzz cringed at the thought of the stacks of paperwork the two of them were going to go through. "Yes, Sir."

"Your medical team and back up should be there shortly. Nebula out." Buzz communicator went dead after that. He breathed a sigh of relief. At least the help that Jane needed was coming. Knowing that the medical team was going to arrive soon, Buzz made it his mission to clear every bit of rubble away from Jane's unconscious form. At least that would make it less messy for the medics when they got here.

Starting to feel the pull of exhaustion on his body, Buzz sat down next to Jane. He kept a firm hold on Mitch, though it seemed to the little alien was out cold and not in risk of waking up anytime soon. The ranger felt a little more than awkward holding an alien creature that could be misconstrued as a stuffed animal. Whatever…he'd hand the little menace off to the back up team that was supposed to be coming with the medical squad.

He just hoped he wasn't too late.

* * *

><p>The trip back from Trade World went by quickly, Buzz being as lost in his thoughts as he was. Which was unfortunate in his case, because as soon as he stepped foot aboard the space station Nebula was laying into him. The ranger thought he hadn't had such a verbal beat down since he was a rookie. While the Commander wasn't the most fluffy of people, Buzz knew he was just doing his job and didn't hold it against the older man. Buzz liked to think that the Commander cared, and this is how he showed it. Then again, it was torturous having to go through all the paperwork with his superior officer. <em>Character building, as it had once been explained to him<em>. The ranger didn't complain when he helped fill out paperwork that wasn't even related to what happened…he figured that it couldn't hurt getting back on Nebula's good side. If he even had one.

Deciding to make himself scarce, and not wanting to give the Commander anything else to be furious over, Buzz headed for the science bay. He needed to talk to the LGM's anyway about this Mitch and his strange exosuit. The ranger had asked the medical team to retrieve the small cube from the pocket of Jane's duster, and he had only just received it. With any luck, Jane wouldn't mind…considering he wasn't the one who went through her things – that's the medical teams job anyway – there was no way for her to be upset with him. _The logic was perfect…hopefully_. Stepping into the bay, he was surrounded by the LGM's asking if he was alright and if he had anything shiny for them.

"Whoa! Hold on there guys." The little aliens quieted down immediately. "I'm fine, as you can see. I was forced to see a medical officer and they've cleared me. Just a few cuts and bruises. As for something shiny…" Buzz crouched down to be more on their level, holding out the cube for them. "Think you can figure out how this works? It's been confiscated from a bad guy."

"Ooooh." One of the aliens snatched the cube away and the group huddled around him to get a look at it. "Alien technology." Buzz tried hard not to roll his eyes at that one. The science bay became a flutter of activity, the LGM's scanning the cube and running it through various methods of gathering information. After only about ten minutes, one of the LGM's figured out how to unlock the suit so it looked…well, like the suit that it was. The LGM's were impressed in unison and they continued their exploration of the suit. One of them eventually toddled over to where Buzz had taken a seat.

"Got anything for me?"

The LGM had a see-through tablet and was clicking away with one hand. "It is a robot suit, not unlike that of the Gargantians. But different." The green alien clicked a couple more times before offering the tablet to Buzz. The ranger took it and looked over the schematics. "It is synchronized with the wearer."

Interesting…he had never seen anything like it before. Sure, the suits the Gargantians made looked similar, but were powered differently and required a team to control the suit. It's almost like this suit was in contact with the wearers neuro system, much like the rocket packs issued to space rangers. Buzz scrolled through the information the LGM's had so far recovered. _Wait, what_? "This says that the suit can move independently of the wearer…how is that possible?"

"Primitive AI…" The alien responded, showing Buzz the specific page. "Can be programmed with information of a blueprint…and given basic commands." Buzz nodded and handed the alien back the tablet and it toddled off the continue helping it's companions. The ranger continued to watch in fascination as the LGM's worked on and around the suit. At one point he thought he might have had to step in and help when the suit stood by itself, causing the aliens to scatter in fear. When it was clear that nothing else was going to happen, the LGM's slowly crept from their hiding spots and Buzz relaxed. He wasn't really in the mood to be fighting off an unpiloted exosuit.

Not long after, Buzz's wrist communicator started yelling at him, and the ranger was hesitant to answer it…he didn't want another verbal assault from the Commander. He was in luck, for once, and one of the medical staff was on the other end. "Hey, Buzz. If you want to meet me in the medical wing, I can give you the report you requested."

"Thank you, I'll be down in a few minutes." Closing his communicator, the ranger took his leave from the LGM's. He would come by later and see if they had any new information for him. The more the rangers knew about alien technology, the better they could deal with it when confronted.

The walk down to the medical bay wasn't a long one and in short order Buzz was in the main medical facility. He was loath to admit that he had been here more times than he could count, and it wasn't a pleasant place for him to be…Buzz wasn't always the _best_ of patients, and several of the nurses in the area were already giving him dirty looks. He didn't have to wait very long before a tall, slender alien woman approached him. "I see you found your way down here easily." The woman teased, offering the ranger a kind smile.

"Yes, well…I am acquainted with the area." Buzz grumbled, but smiled back nonetheless. "So, what do you have for me, Kess?"

Kess gave him a look that said she was displeased with him. "You know that I can't show you the files, and you _know_ that I shouldn't even be talking with you about this." She scolded, "However, you _were_ there and I can understand if you have legitimate reasons to know about this woman's injuries. You didn't get away uninjured yourself. Plus, you are not immediate family." The woman narrowed her eyes him, knowing well enough that he wasn't good at following medical instructions. "That being said, I will give you my report."

Buzz let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding. For a minute, he thought that she was going to change her mind and keep the report strictly to the chain of command. While he was worried about Jane's recovery, he was more curious about how she survived the blast. Anyone that close to a bomb wouldn't have survived, she _shouldn't_ have survived. Buzz just _had_ to know. "Ready when you are."

The medical officer gave him another look before speaking. "She sustained various lacerations to her face and upper body. Mostly superficial, but there were places that were more severe, such as her shoulder, back and upper arms. It felt like the amount of wood we recovered from this woman could build a chair." Kess nearly threw her arms up in the air as the statement, a gesture that Buzz had seen many times in his time in the medical bay. "You said that she dropped to the floor boneless before the explosion?"

Buzz nodded, "Saw her ragdoll on the floor, thought it was the most bizarre thing."

Kess shrugged, flipping through her notes. "It saved her life. When she was brought in, she was wearing some kind of body armor. Our techs later found out that there was a failsafe trigger programmed into the armor." The doctor offered Buzz a small packet of papers regarding the body armor, as well as the weapons and other odds and ends Jane had with her. "If the wearer ever went limp, as if unconscious, the armor would emit a protective shield around the entire body, preventing any more harm to come to the wearer. So by dropping like she did-"

"It triggered the body armor to protect her." Buzz finished.

"Exactly. So, she might have been pushed around by the force of the explosion, but she didn't incur any extra injuries because of it. Other than that, we didn't find any more injuries from last night…However, it does look like she got into some kind of fight about a week ago. She had a pretty severe stab wound in her side, but she was lucky that it missed all her internal organs." Kess finished, watching the ranger read over the packet of papers.

"It's strange…relaxing your entire body enough to trick a piece of programmed metal to think that you're unconscious had to have been difficult at best…" _How many times had Jane done that to where it was nearly second nature_? When the doctor didn't attempt to tell him one way or the other Buzz chanced a look at Kess, and noticed that something had distracted her – she was looking off in the distance somewhere behind him. The behavior was odd enough, but there was a strange tenseness in her shoulders that he hadn't ever seen before. Handing the packet back to her, he chanced a question. "What aren't you telling me, Kess?"

The doctor let out a heavy sigh, her shoulders slumping. She readjusted her glasses before looking back at Buzz. "It isn't any of my business, and it certainly isn't any of _yours_, but…" Kess fidgeted a moment, something that was completely out of character for her, before continuing. "You know that we have to do a full examination of patients when they first come to our facilities, right?" Buzz nodded. It was standard protocol to make sure there was nothing more serious going on with an unknown person. "When we did, I will be the first one to tell you…I was absolutely horrified with what I saw." Kess took another moment to compose herself. "This woman, whoever she is, has had a very, _very_ hard life. The amount of old injuries that I kept finding…it's unbelievable. She's had major injuries since she was young, but I noticed a huge spike in bone remodeling starting about a decade ago. Even as a medical professional who has supposedly seen everything, this blew me away. I can honestly say that I don't know what's holding this woman together, by all accounts, some of the injuries I've seen should have killed her. The best answer I can give is it's sheer force of will keeping her body from fizzling out."

Buzz felt his stomach sink down to his feet, he knew that Kess couldn't give him details of Jane's injuries, but at the same time…he didn't want to know. The simple fact that Kess, the most stubborn and practical of physicians he'd had the pleasure of knowing, was this shaken up over a woman she _didn't even know_ was disturbing. Buzz felt a strong twinge of sadness pulling at him. He couldn't understand how a bright, intelligent young woman, from what he had come to understand, who seemed to have an aura of optimism surrounding her could be in that kind of condition. "Buzz, there's more…" _What? How could there possibly be more_? "She's also malnourished. I'm afraid that when we let her go, she'll go back to whatever kind of lifestyle she had before, and if that happens…" Kess looked down in hopelessness, "If that happens, she will completely burn out. She will die."

Buzz snapped his head up at that, eyes going wide. His appearance must have looked comical, but Kess only looked back at him in sympathy. "You're saying that she'll die regardless when she's released."

Kess held up her hands calmly, "I'm saying that if she returns to her old lifestyle, and nothing is done to change whatever behavior she had been doing before now, then she will die. The problem is that we have no control over this woman, Buzz. She isn't part of Star Command, or any organization affiliated with it. We can't order her on sick leave, or modified duty, or have someone ride along with her. It is completely out of our control." Kess took a deep breath and calmed herself down. "The best we can do is keep her here for a few days to make sure she's healing properly…but after that, we can't hold her."

"There has to be _something_ we can do…" Buzz thought aloud, wracking his brain for any kind of loophole in the regulations. "We can't just let her…go off and get herself killed."

Kess nodded, placing a hand of Buzz's shoulder and giving a reassuring squeeze. "I don't know of one, but you're resourceful…I'm sure you'll think of something. I can give you a few days, but that's about it." The ranger nodded, retracting back into thought. Kess cocked her head to the side, studying the ranger before her. "Buzz, if you don't mind me asking…why are you so worried about this woman? Don't you barely know her?"

Buzz had to think a moment. He didn't know her, which was true; he didn't know where she came from, where she was going, or even what her real name was. He didn't know anything about her personal life, or her history. What he did know was that she was a fighter. A bounty hunter. And, if he really thought about it, a hero. She had saved his life from the explosion. She had helped him and his team take down a group of dangerous criminals. She had saved ranger Nova from getting blasted by that particle cannon, which could have caused serious injury to the princess. Her actions told Buzz that she wasn't one of those heartless bounty hunters that were only after the money. Jane was a bounty hunter that was on the side of good. And that, really, was enough for him. "Because I know that she's one of the good guys, Kess. And I think it would be cruel and unfair that I didn't try and save her life, after she risked her own to save mine."

Kess's expression softened. "If it's good enough for you, it's good enough for me. Now," the doctor's demeanor brightened back to her normal state, "Visiting hours are still open, if you want to go see her, but I warn you – your team has already waylaid her if I were to guess." At Buzz's confused expression the doctor chuckled. "She had requested, when she first woke up, to speak with one of your team members…Mira I think? Anyway, she was the first, and I guess when the other two heard she was here, since I saw them wandering around, they wanted to see her too. So you're not the only one with concern for this woman." A nurse came over and spoke briefly to Kess about another patient. "I must take my leave for now, Buzz. She's in room A113 whenever you're ready to see her." Kess then hurried off to another part of the medical bay leaving Buzz to contemplate everything that had been told to him.

With this new information that Kess had provided for him, and what little he'd been able to dig up after his first run in with Jane, things didn't add up. When he first started to research Bazooka Jane, Buzz had come up with relatively nothing. Other than being a drifter, which most bounty hunters were, as well as her name, he had found very little. It was only with actually talking to people who ran in the underground circuit that he learned anything useful. She was supposedly fearless, nothing scared the woman or phased her. She could go up against the worst possible odds and make it out alive. Buzz had also come across two variations of how she got her name – one of them being that she had originally carried around a giant plasma bazooka with her, blowing everyone away with little trouble. The other was that she survived a direct hit from a plasma bazooka, coming out of the smoke and tearing a new one into the shooter. Both sounded highly unlikely and nothing but urban legend. Another piece of surprising information was that she was rumored to be one of the richest bounty hunters in the universe.

But if she was one of the richest hunters in the universe, why was she in such bad shape? It didn't add up in Buzz's mind. Certainly someone who was that loaded would be able to afford food, or some kind of nourishment implements. He had also seen the way that she was dressed; she wore practical clothing, and nothing flashy or fancy…but it looked well worn in and old. And he never got a look at her ship, but he was willing to bet that it wasn't state of the art or new. So where was all the money going? Even if she bought the most expensive medical care from the black market – and that was surprisingly impressive if you knew where to look – she still would have had more than enough left over for…anything really. Bazooka Jane was an enigma…and Buzz wanted to solve it.

As the ranger approached his destination, he could hear the excited voices of his team coming from the room. Well, mostly Booster and X-R anyway.

"Being a bounty hunter sounds so exciting!"

"I'm sure being a space ranger is just as exciting-."

"Sounds like it pays well too."

"It can…on occasion."

"Do you always catch the bad guys, Jane?"

"Yes, though it can take a while…sometimes you have to be patient."

"Patience is overrated, we're more of a 'take action right now!' kind of team."

Buzz could hear Jane chuckle, "I've seen that first hand." The ranger stepped into the doorway and knocked on the frame with his knuckles, alerting everyone inside to his presence. "Well howdy, Ranger! Nice of you to finally join us!" The bounty hunter chirped. The smile that he received from Jane did weird things to his insides.

"Buzz! Jane was just telling us about what it's like to be a bounty hunter!" Booster said cheerily. "She's been all over the universe, and seen so many places!"

"Also gotten herself into a good bit of trouble as well…" Mira teased. Jane just smiled and shrugged.

"Jane, you being a bounty hunter and all…you probably know a lot of bounty hunters in the circuit, yeah?" X-R are prodded, pushing himself up onto the bed. "You wouldn't happen to know…oh, say, Samus Aran would you?"

"X-R!" Booster chastised.

"What! It's a legitimate question."

Jane gave an overly critical and knowing look to X-R, but it was clear that she was playing along. "We've crossed paths a couple of times…"

The robot ranger looked about ready to have a heart attack. "Do you have her number? Can I have it? Pleaaaaaaaase!" X-R, ever the smooth talker, picked up her hand daintily in his metal ones. It was obvious that he wanted to shake her hand up and down with his plea, but was making sure to be gentle because of her injuries.

The bounty hunter gave X-R a sympathetic smile, patting his little metal hands. "I'm afraid I don't have it…besides, I think she's still busy running down all those Space Pirates, nasty little critters that they are." X-R seemed to deflate at this news.

"Hey! Did you ever meet Shiv Katall?" Booster asked. To anyone else who didn't know the secret, it sounded like a normal conversational question. Mira gave the large ranger a look, and X-R swiveled his head in Boosters direction, but kept his mouth shut. Buzz felt his stomach knot and his hair stand on end at the name. _It was supposed to have died…Booster, what are you _doing?

Buzz watched Jane's eyes harden and turn cold, as her gaze turned unfocused into the distance. _That's…oddly terrifying_. "Once." And in a flash, the look was gone and the bright, carefree expression returned. "But I don't want to go into it." Booster excitement drooped into disappointment, but Jane reached over and patted the big guy on the arm. "Don't worry, Tiny. It wasn't that good a story anyway."

"She calls me Tiny." Booster said to Buzz perkily. The captain tried not to roll his eyes at the rookie.

"Oh! Here, Buzz, you can have my seat." Mira stood quickly, nearly falling over herself. Buzz rose a brow at the princess, finding her behavior…odd. "And wow, look at that! Hey guys, it's that time! You know, to go…do things." The room was silent, for a moment and then the female ranger spoke again. "C'mon, guys! We need to…need to go check in with the LGM's, yes! Find out what…they've been up to and all…regarding-"

"That thing that Buzz wanted them to do." X-R finished, catching onto what Mira was doing. "Come on, big guy, let's go." Mira and X-R practically dragged Booster from the room, leaving Jane and Buzz together. Buzz had to admit, sometimes his team was as subtle as a rock to the face.

"You'll have to excuse them, they don't always have…manners." The ranger grumbled in embarrassment over his team. He took a seat in the chair that Mira had offered him, cringing slightly in pain from his injuries. _Ok, maybe not as alright as he previously thought_… "Why did you want to see ranger Nova anyway?"

"Wow, you just get right down to business, don't you. No, 'howdy Jane, how are you feeling today?' or 'Jane, you look like something the cat dragged it'."

Buzz felt his face warm in embarrassment. _How could he have forgotten to even say hello_? Politeness and pleasantries had been beaten into him in the academy, how could he possibly forget _that_. "I apologize-"

"Oh, knock it off, I was just foolin'." She waved off his open-mouthed silence. "And before you try goin' and askin'…I'm feeling better."

"I'm glad to hear that." He replied honestly. After what she went through last night, it was amazing that she was sitting up in the hospital bed. This woman was something else, that was for sure.

"Anywho, I wanted to give your ranger a message. When I came here, I figured it was the perfect opportunity to pass it on, since I was lookin' for a ranger. I didn't know who it was until she showed up, and well, it worked out. And she must have called the rest of your rookies, since they showed up after we had been chatting for a while."

"Why did you need to give Mira a message?"

"Oh, it wasn't from me, I was just the messenger." Jane picked up the small tablet he remembered seeing during their first mission together. "I was after a guy, and ran into this other bounty hunter that was also after my mark. After we had caught the criminal, he asked me to pass off the message since I'd had a run in with ya'll before. I'm trying to remember what his name was…Roman? Romek?" _Romac_, Buzz knew who Jane was talking about. "He had wanted me to pass on a message to her in the event that I found ya'll again." _Ahh, so that's why she looked more bouncy than normal_.

"That was very kind of you…you didn't have to do that." Buzz commented. He had known she was one of the good guys, and this was just more proof. Jane just waved him off, like it was something she did all the time. The ranger leaned over with his elbows on his knees, stitching his fingers together. "Which brings me to why I'm here; I wanted to thank you for saving my life last night. You didn't have to do that either."

Jane shrugged her shoulders before trying to sit up straight on the bed. "It was the right thing to do." She readjusted herself again, wincing in discomfort. "Couldn't sully my reputation by letting ya die…it'd be bad for business."

Buzz snorted, "Oh, thanks. I'm so pleased that you only saved me to help your reputation." His sarcasm caused Jane to smirk a little. "But in all seriousness, thank you. I truly am grateful." He watched her eyes widen a little before she broke contact and looked at the bed, reaching up and fiddling with her braid.

"Yer welcome." It was so quiet, Buzz nearly missed it. It occurred to Buzz that maybe Jane had never been thanked for her services. Or for anything. The room felt quiet, and as time stretched on, the silence turned awkward. Jane didn't look at him, finding her hands fascinating…and Buzz couldn't seem to look _away_.

Until now, he had only gotten fleeting glances at her, or been so thoroughly distracted he never noticed how beautiful she was. She had fair skin, but that was the kind of complexion to be expected from someone with the color hair she had. Buzz could now see that she had faint freckles dotting her cheeks, and he felt it only added to her charm. He didn't know _why_, but…something drew him to this woman. There was just something about her…that also felt wrong. Buzz couldn't explain it, but somewhere in the back of his mind telling him she should be more _alive_. More happy, more carefree, brighter somehow. He could remember the look in her eyes when Shiv was mentioned, and he felt that look should have never been there to begin with. Maybe, just maybe, one day he would find out…but it was not this day. Buzz would unravel the mystery that was Bazooka Jane, just another time.

Buzz was brought back to the here and now when Jane grunted in pain; she had been trying to move her pillows around and must have twinged something. The captain's brows furrowed, hearing the soft curses from Jane. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"I've had worse…just a couple of bruises and scratches. Nothin' I can't handle." Jane continued to battle with the pillows behind her, eventually giving up with a huff and crossing her arms in irritation.

Shaking his head, Buzz stood and leaned over the bed, "Here, let me help you-"

Jane smacked his hands away from the pillows, "Don't need yer help, just leave em."

Buzz gave her a serious look, "You're obviously uncomfortable the way you are, just…let me move the pillows for you."

Jane returned the look with stubbornness, "I'm fine."

"You are not." The ranger sighed, "You need help, just take it and be happy."

"Neverrrrrr…" Her eyes widened and her lips thinned as she drew out the word in a low, raspy hiss. _What is she_ doing?

Buzz had to bite the inside of his lip to stop the chuckle that threatened to bubble out. He didn't, however, manage to stop his eye from twitching. Jane's lips turned into a small smirk at the eye twitch. Buzz couldn't tell anymore if she was being stubborn for stubborns sake, or if she was playing him. _Might be a little of both_. The ranger chalked it up to the medications she was currently on to dull the pain and to fight off infection. He was sure she would be back to her normal self in a few days...whatever that was. "Are you done?" He asked with his authoritative captain's voice. Jane huffed and nodded, leaning up with a little effort so that Buzz could rearrange the pillows for optimum comfort.

"I suppose I should thank you."

"I suppose I should say your welcome." Buzz crossed his arms, "But I don't think I will."

Jane rolled her eyes, "Gee, what a prince. Should have expected as much commin' from you, Ranger. Honestly, I thought they would have taught you some manners in that ranger school o' yours."

"Oh, they did." Buzz agreed, nodded his head and stroking his chin like a stereotypical person with a beard. "They just don't apply to bounty hunters."

Jane put a hand over her heart, trying to pull off her best hurt expression, "You wound me, Ranger. Cut me right down to the core."

Buzz shrugged, pretending to brush invisible dust from his shoulders. "All in a days work." He attempted to keep up the charade a little longer but eventually broke into a smile and ruining it.

Jane laughed quietly, "You ain't bad, Ranger. Ain't bad at all." She stretched and covered a yawn, sinking down into the pillows and getting comfortable.

That was his queue. "Get some rest, you'll need it to recover quicker." Buzz moved away from the bed and headed to the door, thinking that he heard her say 'sleep is for the weak', but when he turned around she was already out. His team must have taken more out of her than he thought…or she just really needed her sleep after nearly getting blown up. How she had managed to fight as much as she did last night, with a stab wound no ness, was beyond him. And if what Kess had told him earlier was really true, then he needed to find a way to keep her from overdoing it…Buzz didn't want to think about what it would mean if he failed to find a solution.

Buzz thought it was best to talk to his team. He wouldn't give them any details concerning Jane's health, just if there was something in the regulations that he didn't remember, and if there was a way around circumstances involving a non Star Command party. If anyone would know where to look first, it was Booster. And XR could go through massive amounts of data quickly if they set up the right search parameters. It was only fair that he tried his best to find some way to keep her from running herself into the ground…she had saved his life, and he would be indebted to her until he could return the favor. It was the right thing to do, and he be damned if he didn't try his best.

* * *

><p>"How can there be absolutely <em>nothing<em>?" Buzz tossed another useless regulations book onto the table he and his team were crowded around. He sighed heavily, rubbing his eyes in frustration. After days of research in between missions they hadn't come up with a solution. Jane was set to be released _today_. The ranger had been careful about what information he had given his team about the situation, but they could tell that this was really important to him. They were a fantastic team.

"We've gone through everything Buzz…not even I know of a loophole." Booster said dejectedly. He had been the first to jump on board of this crazy idea, and he had been trying his hardest to find something.

Buzz gave a reassuring pat on the rookies arm, "You did what you could. Don't beat yourself up about it."

"Seriously, though…it's like there's nothing that can be done…third party people who required medical attention and have nothing to do with the Galactic Alliance are pretty well protected from anything." Mira added, flipping through a manual. "Especially if they don't have any kind of criminal record. From what you told us, no one has ever pressed charges against Jane, so we can't monitor her on that front."

"Have any of you thought that maybe she just wants to disappear after this?" X-R offered offhandedly. "As friendly as Jane is with us, she doesn't strike me as the sticking around type. Seems like she's eager to get out of here, and never look back." The robot received disgruntled looks from the rest of the team. "Oh fine, ignore the voice of reason…because _that_ hasn't blown up in our faces before."

Buzz took a moment to think on that; what he said was completely true. After the first wave of drugs Jane received had worn off and the dosage dialed back, she had become less forthcoming with his team. They had continued to visit her on their off time, but she seemed more closed off, anxious about her surroundings and seemed to be harboring nervous energy around the doctors and other personnel. It struck him as strange that someone who had absolutely nothing to hide, and Jane really did have a squeaky clean record from what he could tell, was as jittery as she was here. Buzz thought back to what Jane had told him last night about being brought to Star Command, and realized that there was something to the story that he was missing. He didn't know why she hated Star Command so vehemently, but now it was clear to him why she was so eager to leave.

The captain was about to reach for another booklet when his wrist communicator beeped at him. "Buzz Lightyear here." The image cleared up and showed Nebula's unhappy face.

"Get down to the hanger immediately, and bring your team. It's time to say goodbye to that viper of a woman." Buzz didn't get a chance to acknowledge the Commander before he severed the line.

Buzz looked at his team who held shocked expressions. "I guess we better head down there and make sure she isn't causing trouble." It was never a good sign when an entire team of space rangers were called to the same place when one would have been sufficient…especially if Nebula was that fired up over something. The team prepared for the worst as they made their way to the hanger, cautiously entering and surveying the area for a disturbance. They found one in front of Jane's ship, between her, the Commander and the LGM's.

"Uh, everything alright here?" Buzz asked as he and his team approached the small gathering.

"Not quite." Nebula grunted, his arms crossed and staring down Jane.

"Why the hell were those little varmints in my ship? That's my property and you don't have permission to board!" The bounty hunter fumed.

"You should be happy we even bothered to retrieve your ship at all." Was the gruff reply, "They were making sure everything was working properly before you left."

"We just wanted to help." One of the LGM's piped up. But the glare it received from Jane caused them to scatter again.

"For the last time, I don't want any of ya'lls help!" The woman had the nerve to stomp her foot. Buzz and his team watched the exchange between Jane and Nebula apprehensively. Each one of them felt it was best to keep quiet and prepare to break up a fight if need be.

"You'll accept it and be grateful. That's an order." He spoke with authority…and that didn't go over well with Jane.

"I ain't one of your rangers, you can't order me around." Jane rebutted, but Nebula had had enough and stepped into her space, looming over the woman.

"You will as long as you're on my station, missy. You were brought here for medical attention, under _my_ supervision. As far as I'm concerned you're just like any other ranger on this station; you _will_ listen to my orders, and you _will_ obey them. Is that clear?" Commander Nebula could be intimidating when he wanted to be, he didn't have to shout at the rangers to get them to do what he ordered. Jane didn't move from her ground, but didn't say anything else either and the Commander took this as compliance. "Now, I've been told by the doctor that supervised over you that you still aren't completely 100 percent, but we can't keep you here. So you can do one of two things: you can either report into me personally for the next several weeks-" Jane looked like she was going to object, but Nebula beat her to it and held up a hand for silence, "Or, one of my ranger can accompany you until you're completely healed. Your choice."

"Absolutely not. Like I told your captain over here, I work alone. Having anyone else around would only slow me down." Jane crossed her arms and shifted her weight, attempting to look intimidating as well.

Nebula rolled his eyes and gave a severe look Buzz's way. "Now where have I heard that before." He grumbled. "You only have those two options."

Jane was silent for a moment, before shrugging. "Fine. If I absolutely must, I'll take the robot." She said easily, gesturing her hand in X-R's direction.

X-R looked ready to bolt into Jane's ship when Nebula spoke up. "Unfortunately you can't have him. He's instrumental to the inner workings here at the station as well as on patrol."

"I knew you really cared, dad!"

"I thought I told you to stop calling me that!" Nebula turned his attention back to Jane, ignoring the sulking robot next to him. When the bounty hunter opened her mouth again to speak, Nebula cut her off. "You can't take ranger Nova with you either, her father would never agree to such an expedition." Buzz started to get a bad feeling he knew what the Commander was doing. "Or Booster." He cut her off again before she ever said anything. _Nebula what in the name of space_ are you doing?

"That only leaves…" Jane didn't even finish, eyes darting over to Buzz, "Oh no…No. There is no way I'm letting some…_rocket jockey_, playboy onto my ship!" When Nebula didn't say anything, she tried again. "You don't understand, I will _kill him_. I can just see it now, and I'd rather not ruin my clean reputation by offing Ranger over here because he was impossible to get along with." He should feel more offended by that. But at the same time, she was probably right. They hadn't exactly worked well together in the past, so it was conceivable that they would end up killing each other in a small enclosed space.

"Well, it's either him, or reporting to me once a week. What's it gonna be?" Nebula asked, impatience clear in his features.

After a moment or two of deliberating, Jane sighed, her shoulder slumping in defeat. "I'll radio in once a week."

"That's what I thought. Now, say your goodbyes…and get off my space station!"

Jane was surrounded in a flash, getting hugs from Mira and Booster. Even X-R got a hug from the bounty hunter, and he tried one last time to get her number. Buzz stayed back, knowing that this kind of goodbye wasn't normally Jane's style towards him. When she finally broke herself away from the rookies, she turned her attention onto him. Buzz walked over to the small group, his team making room for him. "Well, Ranger, it's been fun." She stuck her hand out towards him and Buzz shook her hand.

"I suppose this is goodbye then?" the Ranger asked.

"Naw, Ranger." Jane held onto his hand a second longer before letting go, "This is just a see ya later." With a wink, Jane turned around and boarded her ship, throwing over her shoulder one last, "Until next time, Ranger!"

"Until next time…" Buzz murmured under his breath, half waving as the ship fired up and then exited the hanger. And that was it. She was gone, and he hadn't managed to find a way to help her. _Not that she would have accepted it anyway_…He took a moment more to stare at the empty space where Jane's ship used to be before rounding up his team, they had work to do after all. Buzz was looking over the details for his next mission when he received a message from the Commander to meet him in his office. Confused as to why Nebula would want to see him, the ranger set off, leaving his team to finish the final arrangements for the mission.

When he approached the door to the Commander's office, he knocked on the doorframe to announce his presence. "You wanted to see me, Sir?"

"Lightyear, yes, come in." Nebula waved the ranger in, not looking up from whatever paperwork his was still struggling with. Buzz waited patiently in front of his superior's desk, but as the seconds ticked by he couldn't help but wonder if he'd been forgotten about. The ranger was nearly startled when the Commander broke the silence. "There's not a chance in hell that woman is going to contact me."

"Sir?"

"Son, I saw the report from Kess. That woman is too headstrong for her own good, like a ranger I would know." Nebula gave a pointed look to Buzz, who shifted uncomfortably under the older man's gaze. "So I propose that someone keep an eye on her and report back to me…make sure she doesn't get herself killed for the time being. I'd rather not get a verbal tirade from Kess if I can help it, been on the receiving end one too many times." Nebula dug through some of the papers on his desk before separating a stack and pushing them towards Buzz. "Regardless of what any of the rulebooks say, medical will always trump the handbook, so I've been _informed_," So, really that meant Kess threatened him… "That someone needs to keep an eye on the viper woman until she's recovered. That someone is going to be you."

"But sir, I'm needed here. My team needs me to do missions. I'm the best ranger you have-"

"And that's exactly why I want you going. Plus you've already dealt with her before, so you know more than anyone I could assign." Buzz opened his mouth to insist a point, but Nebula held up a hand. "Your team will do just fine. They've already proven themselves to be competent rangers…as long as they continue to work together."

"Sir, I can't just _leave_." Buzz tried to protest again.

"Son, you have more sick and vacation leave saved than you know what to do with. You hold the record!" Nebula stood from his desk and walked around to Buzz, clapping a hand on his back roughly, steering him to sit down. "Now, you're going to get all your paperwork filled out and taken care of. She still needs to take that Mitch person back wherever he came from, and then you'll start keeping an eye on her."

Buzz gave the stack of paperwork a disgruntled look, but made no move to start it. Nebula sighed, returning to his proper side of the desk and sinking into his chair. "Look, I know that you feel an obligation to your team and to the work that you do here. And you're right, you are the best ranger I got." The Commander leaned his elbows on the desk, giving Buzz a serious look. "But I also know you well enough to see when you're distracted. Don't think I haven't noticed you and your team's sudden and inexplicable fascination with Star Command rulebooks and guidelines. You want to keep an eye on the bounty hunter? Here's your opportunity."

He only had to think about it a moment to know that he agreed with the Commander. Buzz really did want to keep an eye on Jane and make sure that she at least healed completely before going fully back to her line of work. Nebula had just given him his permission to go do that on a silver platter…so then why was he hesitating? Something about this didn't add up. "What, exactly, would I be doing as far as mission records?"

Nebula leaned back in his chair and shrugged. "Who knows? As far as Star Command is concerned, you'd be off taking a vacation…which, might I add, I normally have to force you to take."

Buzz rose an eyebrow at that. He wasn't surprised that Nebula would take the plausible deniability road. However, that also meant that the Commander assumed that Buzz would be getting into trouble…which probably wouldn't be far from true. "Alright. Say I do this, how could I possibly track her after she drops off Mitch?" Buzz knew that trying to argue with the Commander would only end in failure. The prospects of doing a tracking mission on his own again were very tempting…but he wasn't sure about tracking Jane. He just _knew_ that if he made a mistake and she found out, he would get the beating of a lifetime. Buzz was also wary that he wouldn't be out in the field, so to speak. He knew that his team could handle anything that got thrown at them…but only he could contend with some of the evilest forces in the universe. That being said, he was just going to have to trust Commander Nebula's judgment.

"By following the bounties of course." Nebula said as if it was common knowledge.

_Follow the bounties_? "With all due respect, Sir, I never attempted to follow a bounty before." Of course now that he said it out loud, it sounded dumb to his ears. Buzz had extensive training by Nebula himself before he could take the Shiv Katall mantel. But he still didn't know how they operated…the most he ever had to do other than get into fights – which took no skill _at all_ – was intimidating those that questioned him.

"It's not that much different than the information gathering you do normally. You'll be fine." The desk spat out another stack of papers and Buzz tried not to chuckle at the disgusted look the Commander gave the desk.

"So the first place that I would go would be…" Buzz hedged, but knew what answer was coming. Out of all the places in the universe that a bounty hunter could go, would she really go there first?

"Trade World, of course."

Buzz couldn't help the mental sigh, _of course_.

* * *

><p>So, I figure that I can update every other week being as my chapters can be a bit lengthy. Sound good? And thank you very much to toystorylover, athaye12, and Jessie - Princess Prairie for favoriting this story! It means a lot to me.<p> 


End file.
